UK Data Service
January 2026
Five partner universities
100+ staff
Exists as UKDS since 2012 (as UKDA 1967)
National data since 2003
UK social survey microdata:
International data: survey data, aggregate databases
Census tables and individual data – current and historical
Business microdata and administrative data
Qualitative data: multimedia files and interview transcripts
Questions asked to people
About objective characteristics ie height, weight, age
About views and attitude:
External measurement (biosample, genetic, cortisol levels)
Smart data (from devices ex accelerometer, energy meter)
Linked administrative records - more on this later
Screen-based sedentary behaviour and depression
11,341 teenagers from the Millennium Cohort Study
The main outcome was depressive symptoms at age 14
Against frequency of video game, social media, and internet use (age 11).
Impact of self-reported physical activity
Mental health: depression, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire)
Diet and sleep; Alcohol consumption, smoking, drug use
Anti-social behaviour and offending
Parent physical and mental health
Linked data
Largest longitudinal study of the UK population
40K households, 100K individuals initially (2009)
17 waves so far: 2009-23. Includes BHPS data 1991-2009
Ethnic minority boost samples, innovation panel
Very wide range of topics covered:
Parra-Mujica, Johnson et al (2023)
Positive association between health for the 16 to 24 and:
Microsimulation shows that respondents on lower income would benefit the most from increases in their income,
Focusing on the poorest risks neglecting other vulnerable subgroups, ie young workers and single youth
Records produced when a survey respondent interacts a government organisation
Can be merged with survey data…
Entails more stringent conditions of access (Secure access)
Early days, especially for everyday users but expanding area
Fine grained socio-demographic population estimates
By age group:
Typical application: population estimates for small areas
Residents aged 0-24 as a % of the population by LSOAs , 2021
.
Attitudes towards and participation in different types of gambling activities
Data controller: Gambling Commission.
3,666 pupils aged 11 to 17 yo (school years 7 to 12 (S1 to S6 in Scotland
You can find it here
Register with the UK Data Service
Create a project (‘non commercial’, ‘commercial’, ‘teaching’)
Search, find and order the data
Add it to your project
Download it…
Et voilà.
The steps to follow are detailed on our website
Open data: can be downloaded without registration
ReShare data (ie deposited) data: conditions will depend on the data owner; most of the time freely downloadable
Controlled data:
Thank you for your attention
Any questions: help@ukdataservice.ac.uk
Fang-Wei Wu, A., Henderson, M., Brown, M., Adali, T., Silverwood, R. J., Peycheva, D. and Calderwood, L. (2024). ‘Cohort Profile: Next Steps—the longitudinal study of people in England born in 1989–90’, International Journal of Epidemiology, 53(6), doi: 10.1093/ije/dyae152
Greater Manchester Combined Authority (2023) Census 2021 briefing: Children and young people, GMCA Research
Kandola A, Owen N, Dunstan DW, Hallgren M (2022). Prospective relationships of adolescents’ screen-based sedentary behaviour with depressive symptoms: the Millennium Cohort Study.Psychological Medicine 52, 3531–3539. doi: 10.1017/S0033291721000258
Parra-Mujica F, Johnson E, Reed H, Cookson R, Johnson M (2023) Understanding the relationship between income and mental health among 16- to 24-year-olds: Analysis of 10 waves (2009–2020) of Understanding Society to enable modelling of income interventions. PLOS ONE 18(2): e0279845.
UK Data Service (2018): Webinar: research Using Youth and Young Adult Data in Understanding Society: Recording; Slides
Understanding Society series page at the UK Data Service